Genesis 3:16-19 - Cursed is the ground because of you

3:16

Attention now turns to the woman. Childbirth will involve severe pain.Giving birth is “painful labour”. Well, that much is certainly true! Note that it does not say that there was no pain involved before this, and at this point, if taken literally, there is no mention of any children having been born yet. Her desire would be for her husband and he would rule over her. We could take an implication from this that prior to the fall the man did not rule over the woman, they were equal partners. Jesus said that we are not to lord it over each other as the Gentiles do Matt 20:25-28. As with childbirth, we can see the reality of this, with men ruling over women for the most part for most of the time. 

3:17-19

Finally it is Adam’s turn. He gets three verses of judgement, as against Eve’s one! “Because you listened to your wife ...” Now one must not draw a general conclusion from this! In Gen 21:12 Abraham is told by God to listen to Sarah. Earlier in the Hagar fiasco it would have been far better if he had not listened to his wife. So there is a time to listen and a time not to. Adam had earlier tried to blame the woman, but there was no escaping his responsibility. So the ground is cursed “because of you”. Childbirth would be painful for the woman, work would be painful for the man. Man’s life would be hard, then he would die. He came from dust and would return to dust. We were created as spiritual and material beings, when we sinned the spiritual died. Only in Christ can we find life, because only in Christ is the fundamental problem of our sin and our sinfulness dealt with.